Your Total School Loans aka Pain Agony Defeat

NismoZZzz

NismoZZzz

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I was just looking through my school loans and noticed the amount I owed. I want to ram my head against a wall. I owe $45000 and I have a couple of semesters left to go.

So I went ahead and asked myself, does anyone else deal with this pain? Do any of you have any college loans? If so how much?

If you've consolidated or have started paying them, what's your repayment plan like?

Just wondering and hoping I'm not the only one out there.
 
Damn. I just started taking on loans this past year. I'll probably end up with around $30,000 when I graduate. In the end it'll be worth it.
 
wow what college? i go to a public university and end up with $2400 extra per semester (pro scholarships though I have to keep a 3.5) :eek:

in-state tuition at mine is $4000 per semester, I'm not sure how that compares to most but $40,000 in loans wouldn't be possible here unless a full-time student for 5 years with no scholarships or federal money.
 
^ Bingo, but that includes federal school loans which have deferred interest. If I knew all this, I wouldn't have even gone to college.

I am in a public state university which is roughly 6000 a semester. Gotta love new jersey. The $45,000 includes the interest some loans have built since starting school.
 
I dodged this bullet with the Air Force. They paid for all my schooling and the MGI Bill will more than likely be paying for more once I separate here in a few weeks.
 
I have $8475.42 left to repay (graduated in 2000).

I have a monthy payment automatically deducted from my checking account. I think they said there is a savings of .25% when you do that.
 
I have over $16000 to pay in a 10-year repayment plan. I think I owe more somewhere, but I need to find the bill for that loan.
 
[quote name='Over easy']I have over $16000 to pay in a 10-year repayment plan. I think I owe more somewhere, but I need to find the bill for that loan.[/quote]

Ditto.. I did three years of community college paid in cash and then I transferred to state school and ended up with $16500 for three semesters of school (54 credit hours). My payments are *just* now coming due since I went back and took some filler classes to meet the 150 credit hour requirement to sit for the CPA (which I don't plan on doing).

I think I'm going to go back just to avoid making these loan payments and be a lifelong student taking elective type courses every six months :D
 
I'm down $2800 for my first year. I've got $1000 in the bank that I'd be happy to put toward that debt, but I'm worried about what next year will bring in terms of aid, as I don't think I'll be getting a scholarship again.
 
50,000 if not more. Private University with little assistance, even though my parents' combined income is less than $50,000. I'm going into the service soon, so hopefully I'll get the interest deferred and just pay on it .
 
Damn, ouch. A lot of you guys are getting jacked with these loans. Personally, I'll be leaving school with $3,000 in federal loans. I'll still be living at home, so my first paychecks from a job that I get (hopefully) once I graduate will go to paying it all off. I'm not gonna buy squat, just pay it off.
 
Don't know exactly how much, less than $10,000 though. When i transfer to a four year school, that will probably increase, but like QiG said, community college saves a lot of money.
 
All I know is it is a lot. I looked at it once but have not looked at it since then. I pay for the parent loan that my mom had to get because I was under 25 and mine. I went to a tech school so I got fucked bad with the cost. Both are a little over 300 a month total. I think I have about 10 years to pay it and all I got was a pel grant to help me out. So all of it is on me.
 
Financial aid covered my time at community college. My SUNY time, however, came out to be about $26000 for tuition/dorms -- I still owe about $5600 after 4 years of repaying. My mother has a parent loan for me that she's still paying on, my father paid some of the tuition, and I got a bit of financial aid.
 
I got lucky my first two years since I got a free-ride at a local community college, then I transferred to a private college and I'm already planning out ways to minimize what I'll owe back. At least through teaching I can get loan forgiveness on several loans.
 
I have enough to own a house. I currently owe $125k (in principal) and am about to take on another $100k over the course of 4 more years. Once all my schooling and residency is said and done I will likely owe between $250-300k in principal. I can't wait to see what my monthly bill is in the end. Currently the monthly bill is almost $1000 per month. Let this be a lesson to you... go to public school unless you win the lottery.
 
I don't have anything right now... but this fall I should be starting up school at a technical college. After everything is said and done, I will probably have around 30k in loans.
 
[quote name='Warner1281']I have enough to own a house. I currently owe $125k (in principal) and am about to take on another $100k over the course of 4 more years. Once all my schooling and residency is said and done I will likely owe between $250-300k in principal. I can't wait to see what my monthly bill is in the end. Currently the monthly bill is almost $1000 per month. Let this be a lesson to you... go to public school unless you win the lottery.[/quote]

What the fuck, man?! Was your school made entirely of gold?
 
[quote name='Warner1281']I have enough to own a house. I currently owe $125k (in principal) and am about to take on another $100k over the course of 4 more years. Once all my schooling and residency is said and done I will likely owe between $250-300k in principal. I can't wait to see what my monthly bill is in the end. Currently the monthly bill is almost $1000 per month. Let this be a lesson to you... go to public school unless you win the lottery.[/quote]

That remind me of my friend, he owes around $100,000 to 200,000. All of it from going to pharmacy school at Pacific. If I had that much I would probably stress out too much and gone live as a hermit somewhere to get away from all that loan. Though I been considering going to law school and taking on more loans so maybe I will end up with over $100k in loans.
 
I've gone to school for longer than I care to mention... I could've been a doctor by now. (Majored Industrial Design) but luckily my total is $0.
 
Around $135,000. I just finished my B.S. Aerospace Engineering, am currently working on my Master's, and just recently netted a job in my field. I'll deal with the debt by working consistently and making more than the minimum payment each month after saving up about $5000 as an "emergency" fund (car repairs, etc.)

It'll take about 7-10 years realistically (bills, taxes, 401k, medical, etc.) to pay it off starting at a $50k+ salary, but I plan on working at least 40 years, so the benefits heavily outweigh the negatives. My company will also begin paying for my graduate school.

~HotShotX
 
Too, too much. I've gone back to school out of state, but I think I may be transferring elsewhere again, or returning to the state University just to finish up there. Unless you're going to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc., it just isn't worth accumulating the debt. There are still other qualifications to this argument/assumption, such as type of degree (engineering versus bullshit dance/liberal arts degree).
 
Around $24k, graduated last spring. I haven't had a job, so I haven't paid shit off yet, basically only interest.
 
I had none from undergrad, have about $50,000 from grad school. All federal, subsidized loans.

I'm not that worried about it. Would rather not have them of course, but I've loved grad school and wanted to stay in academia so it was a necessary evil. Would have been lower if not for my first year when I had to take loans to pay tuition. Every year since then I've gotten paid tuition and a stipend and just took smaller loans to help make ends meet/live better--other than this past year where I took none since I was getting paid a lot more and didn't need the extra money.

I'll just live modestly for a few years (planned to anyway) before thinking of buying a house etc. and get the loans paid down. Thankfully I have no credit card debt--just my student loans and car payment.
 
God damn. I hope most of you don't owe thousands upon thousands just for undergraduate costs. Most people I know who paid tons of money to go to "prestigious" universities for their undergraduate work consider it a huge waste of money. If that's what you did, you better love what you're doing, because you're really in a hole now.

As for my situation:
Through merit-based scholarships and awards, I actually turned a profit of few thousand dollars per year during my undergraduate years. I'll be starting work on my PhD at a top-tier university in the fall of this year, where all of my educational costs (tuition, fees, etc.) will be covered and I'll be bringing in a stipend of approximately $20,000 to $34,000 per year, depending on where I choose to go.
 
I'll owe about $75,000 total when I get my MFA this Spring. Ivy League undergrad + top-tier MFA program, but it has all been worth it to me.

Sure, I think the government (and private education) screws the poor kids, but I am on track for a high-paying job in the industry of my choice. It's all relative. I wouldn't trade my education for anything.

My sister is going to owe $150,000+ when she graduates from law school next year, but she already has a job at $160,000 a year, so it's worth the investment.

Some state schools are an excellent bargain, and some aren't worth even the discounted tuition. I knew where I wanted to go and busted my ass to get there. I'm proud I didn't graduate from Cheeseburger U, despite the loans. I hate those people who try and make you feel bad about taking out loans to attend the school of your choice. I can't quite understand the need to act superior about your lower education debt, what the hell does anyone care what someone else owes?

Don't feel bad OP, there are tons of graduates out there with a lot of student loan debt. The only time it's not worth it is if you're not doing what you want to do with your life. We'll be working for the next 50 years, we might as well make it something we love.
 
I've been paying on my $15000 for over 10 years now and haven't gotten any closer to paying it off than win I started. I don't know what is supposed to happen to this amount when I die but I really don't see me ever paying this off.
I'm not even sure it's been worth it. I see idiots getting graphic design jobs without the degree simply because they had a cheap ass boss at one point just hand them the job and tell them to learn as they go. Then they go and get a better paying job w/out the degree, but with the experience.
When I think aobut the $30K salary I get but the $300/month payment on loans, it feels like I could have been working at walmart all this time without a degree and be pretty much the same.
But I guess the plus side is I don't have to deal with a-hole customers as often, so there's something to it.
 
I've been taking out about $2,500 a year and I'll probably graduate in 5 years total, so I guess about $12,500 after I get out. It would be a lot higher (maybe around $18,000 a year) but my parents pay off a good two thirds of it and working during the summer takes out another chunk. Then again I might go for my masters so I'm not completely sure if that will be the total. Either way as long as I find a job in my field (chemical engineering) and spend conservatively for a year or two I should have no problems paying everything off.
 
I owe nothing. I paid off undergrad ages ago. I recently finished law school and the formula went like this: good LSAT + lower tier school = full tuition scholarship

Since I don't have any huge aspirations, a lower tier school was fine for my purposes.
 
[quote name='Synergy']

. I'm proud I didn't graduate from Cheeseburger U, despite the loans. I hate those people who try and make you feel bad about taking out loans to attend the school of your choice. I can't quite understand the need to act superior about your lower education debt, what the hell does anyone care what someone else owes?

[/quote]

It's probably because this is a website about bargains.

Just sayin'. ;)
 
[quote name='HovaEscobar']It's probably because this is a website about bargains.

Just sayin'. ;)[/quote]

Heh, good one. I'm as cheap as they come with video games and certain electronics. Some things I'm willing to pay a bit more for.
 
No loans for me. With the Federal Pell Grant, I actually have an excess of financial aid cash that doesn't have to be repaid. I'm getting a PS3 and tossing the rest in the bank.
 
[quote name='fsunka']wow what college? i go to a public university and end up with $2400 extra per semester (pro scholarships though I have to keep a 3.5) :eek:

in-state tuition at mine is $4000 per semester, I'm not sure how that compares to most but $40,000 in loans wouldn't be possible here unless a full-time student for 5 years with no scholarships or federal money.[/QUOTE]

That's just tuition. After housing, books, food/food plan, entertainment, etc... Most people's bills are at least double tuition, if not more. Except for books, all of that stuff has to be paid for whether or not you are in college. But the catch is while in school, most people are either not working at all or working at a $7/hr "college" job. By the time taxes are taken out, you're lucky to be able to afford milk.

Unless daddy is rich, you live at home or you get extremely lucky and get a decent paying job that doesn't take away too much from your studies, non-tuition debt is almost necessary at some point.

I'm about to finish this summer at about 30k. But I may go for another 4 years.:whee:
If I do, I'll most likely be looking at another 200k...:hot:
 
I read a study once that basically looked at how people think going to certain schools guarantees success. Their conclusion was basically that people who go to these schools (say Harvard) would be successful no matter where they went. It's the person that creates success for themselves, not the school you went to.
 
I went to a state University (WSU), saving tons of money in high school from working at least part time, my parents and Grandma had some mutual funds for me, as well as some bonds. I spent around $73k for 6 years, the bonds and mutal funds paid for about 1/3. I figured out that if I had spent what the University predicts you will spend it would have been something like $110k.

The rest I got from working my ass off. I lived on campus 4 out of the 6 years, 1 year was spent in a cheap university run apartment only an 8 month contract, not a 12 like most apartments with free cable and internet. I worked two jobs at a time, one as pc tech assistant, the other as a houseboy(work in a sorority free food and hot girls) or writer for the paper. The fraternity I spent 4 years in also gave rent discounts $50 a month for a 3.5 or better. I kept my grades up and in my last year I severed as the fraternity's adviser and I got to live 1/2 rent. I also had a full load of classes and I was super active in the fraternity.

I also tried to make at least $5k a summer, one summer I made $8k. I did fraternity summer recruitment which equaled free rent as well as worked a few other jobs in the summer. I drove a $5k 1999 cavalier through most of college. I just kept my spending down and didn't buy hardly anything except for the ps3 and an engagement ring.

So in the end college was a lot of fun, and b/c I'm so cheap I never spent a lot at the bars or parties or ate out a bunch. I never went on ski trips or trips to cabo. In the end I owe my dad $1000 and that's it.
 
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I had 28K when I graduated in May of 07 and had it all paid off by Oct. 08, would have paid it off sooner but I didn't get a job until Aug. 07. Just pay it off and don't have a life, I've saved thousand and thousands.
 
I came out of college owing practically nothing about $6,800 which I paid off right away. Now, law school is a totally different animal. I would be lucky if I made it out with less than $130,000. Here's hoping for $125,000.
 
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